SoftBank Group has surpassed Toyota as Japan's most valuable company, driven by significant investments in AI, particularly OpenAI. SoftBank's market valuation reached $305 billion after a 14% stock surge, while Toyota's fell to $288 billion.
Xiaomi is showing early progress in open-source AI, a year after its launch. The company has committed $8.8 billion to AI over three years, aiming to integrate AI across its hardware and devices. Analysts see AI as crucial for consumer tech companies.
Michael Burry, famed for predicting the 2008 crash, warns the stock market's AI obsession mirrors the dot-com bubble. He believes markets are ignoring economic data, driven solely by momentum. Burry cautions that massive AI investments by tech giants may yield no lasting returns, potentially leading to significant market corrections and tech job stagnation.
Jack Selby, managing director of Peter Thiel's family office Thiel Capital, warns that a potential pullback by Middle East sovereign wealth funds could drain hundreds of billions from AI investments. Middle East investors account for about 25% of global AI investments committed over the next five years. If the Iran war continues and UAE/Saudi divert funds to rebuilding, data centers and tech companies could face significant impact. Oracle, Nvidia and Cisco are building a 5-gigawatt OpenAI campus in the UAE, while Microsoft plans $15 billion in UAE investment by 2029. Selby compares the AI boom to the dot-com bubble, warning it could be orders of magnitude larger when it busts.
Tech investor Jack Selby warns that Middle East sovereign wealth funds could withdraw hundreds of billions from AI investments if the Iran war continues, diverting capital to rebuilding efforts. Middle East investors account for roughly a quarter of global AI investments committed over the next five years, with half dedicated to regional data centers and half to global projects. Selby compares the AI boom to the dot-com bubble, predicting the eventual bust could be 10-100x larger in wealth destruction.
Artificial intelligence investments by US tech giants continue to soar, dwarfing those of Chinese AI firms, but China’s rising appetite for AI applications will compel its tech companies to increase their AI spending this year, according to analysts. The largest US tech companies are on track for more than US$700 billion in AI capital expenditures this year, driven in part by rising memory costs and continuously growing demand for AI applications. Google and Microsoft on Thursday both said that...
Meta reported a 20 million decline in Family daily active people to 3.27 billion, attributing it to internet disruptions in Iran and WhatsApp restrictions in Russia. Despite this, the company increased its 2026 capital expenditure projection to $125-145 billion for AI infrastructure, while revenue surged 33% year-over-year to $56.3 billion. Reality Labs posted a $4.03 billion operating loss and Meta's stock fell over 7% post-earnings.
Four of the Magnificent Seven tech stocks reported quarterly results, with Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft beating expectations thanks to double-digit cloud computing growth driven by AI adoption. Meta missed expectations and saw its stock fall 5% after announcing increased capital expenditures. The companies plan to spend $650bn collectively on AI infrastructure in 2026, while over 92,000 tech workers have been laid off globally this year as AI replaces human labor.
Google Search queries hit an "all time high" in the first quarter of 2026, according to a statement from CEO Sundar Pichai published as part of Alphabet's earnings on Wednesday. "Our AI investments and full stack approach are lighting up every part of the business," Pichai says. "Search had a strong quarter with AI experiences […]
Meta Platforms shares have recovered 28% from late March lows to $671, recovering from a bruising stretch when investors questioned the company's $169 billion AI investment plan. The stock closed at $738 in late January before falling 29% to $525 in late March. Wednesday's earnings will test whether Meta's aggressive AI buildout—including partnerships with AWS, CoreWeave, and Nebius—translates into advertising growth. Meta recently released Muse Spark AI model and announced 10% workforce cuts.
Russian Presidential Administration Deputy Chief of Staff Maxim Oreshkin stated that annual investments in generative AI have exceeded $450 billion, surpassing the historical costs of the Manhattan Project and the Apollo lunar program.
Meta announced plans to lay off approximately 10% of its global workforce, around 8,000 employees, on May 20. The company had almost 79,000 employees at the start of 2026. Chief People Officer Janelle Gale confirmed the layoffs in a memo, citing the need to run the company more efficiently and offset investments in AI. Severance includes 16 weeks base pay plus two weeks per year of employment, plus 18 months of COBRA coverage for US employees.
Meta announced it will cut approximately 8,000 employees (10% of workforce) on May 20, while Microsoft offered voluntary retirement to about 7% of its American workforce. Both companies are doubling down on AI investments—Meta planning $115-135bn in capital expenditure and Microsoft spending an estimated $110-120bn. Executives claim AI is already boosting productivity, with Zuckerberg saying projects now require fewer workers and Nadella reporting AI handles 30% of Microsoft's coding.
Siemens, Europe's largest engineering firm, is threatening to shift AI investments to the US and China, citing restrictive EU regulations. CEO Roland Busch argues that the EU's AI and Data Acts unfairly burden industrial AI with consumer-level oversight. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also supports revising the framework, calling current rules overly restrictive.
